Title: Thud!
Author: Terry Pratchett
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 464
Rating: 8/10
Terry Pratchett – Thud!
You’ve got to love Thud!, purely because it’s one of Pratchett’s city watch novels and so, as such, it features an all-star cast which includes Commander Sam Vimes, my favourite Discworld character of all. In this book, Vimes is tasked with solving the murder of a dwarf. Sounds simple enough, right? The problem is, if he doesn’t solve the murder of the dwarf, we might just see a repeat of Koom Valley, the legendary battle when the trolls fought the dwarves, leading to massive casualties on both sides and no real resolution.
As you can imagine, he doesn’t really want that to happen – after all, Vimes is an open-minded man, but politics isn’t his forte. Justice, however… well, there’s a subject that he knows a fair amount about, and if a crime has been committed then you can trust Vimes to get to the bottom of it.
This book is also notable because, as one of the later Vimes novels, it features young Sam Vimes, the Commander’s infant son. As if trying to stop a war wasn’t enough, Vimes also has to be back at six o’clock every day without fail, so he can read Where’s My Cow? to his infant son. Interestingly enough, this book has been released in our own world as well, although I’m yet to read it.
Terry Pratchett
Thud! features Pratchett at his strongest, writing with conviction using established characters and covering a story line which is bound to keep you gripped until the last page. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking here, but this is a strong book nevertheless, and one that I’d definitely recommend to anyone who’s a Discworld fan, particularly if you enjoy Sir Samuel Vimes and the Ankh-Morpork City Watch.
And, as an added bonus, you can also expect an appearance from the Nac Mac Feegle, the wee free men that appear elsewhere in the Discworld series. They always used to annoy me when I first discovered them, but they’ve grown on me ever since and Rob Anybody is, if not one of my favourites, a character that I really like. In fact, the characterisation in general is excellent, and the story line is a lot of fun too. I’d say that this is a book that belongs on any Pratchett fan’s bookcase, and it’s also not a bad call even if you’re totally new to the Discworld. It can never hurt to read Pratchett, so you might as well add it to your collection.
Once you’ve read it and decided what you think, come back and let me know with a comment. For me, any City Watch novel is worth reading, and I struggle to rank one of them above another!
Terry Pratchett on the difference between erotic and kinky…
